OPINION
West Ham will regret not successfully signing midfielder Leander Dendoncker as he will no doubt be a very successful player in the Premier League now that he has joined Wolves.
The Premier League new boys confirmed on Transfer Deadline Day, via their official website, that they had signed the 23-year-old midfield enforcer from Anderlecht on an initial season-long loan.
According to Wolves’ official statement their loan agreement with the Belgium giants includes an option to sign him permanently next summer.
The Hammers reportedly had a golden chance to sign Dendoncker earlier in the summer as according to RMC Sport they were the club in pole position to sign him despite him having a lot of suitors.
The London club were believed to be weighing up making a move, according to the Daily Mail, for Dendoncker at the start of summer however then-manager David Moyes wasn’t convinced that he was the type of player the club needed.
Following those two reports the Hammers stopped being continually linked to the 23-year-old and it seems that with Wolves’ securing the midfielder’s future for at least this season, they’ve missed their chance of signing him.
Dendoncker would have been a fabulous signing for Manuel Pellegrini’s side to make as he would have given the manager’s current midfield options a significant boost.
If the Hammers’ midfield lacks anything, it lacks a top-quality defensive midfielder.
This is still case despite the club welcoming several new outfield players in order to dramatically revamp their squad this summer.
Dendoncker is comfortable with the ball at his feet, a powerful presence in aerial duels, a strong tackler and appears to have all the attributes needed to take the Premier League by storm.
Also given his age, the midfielder is no doubt set to continue improving as he picks up experience from playing in another country’s top division.
The 23-year-old can also play as a centre-back as well as in midfield so would have been fantastic additional cover for Pellegrini’s centre-backs particuarly with Winston Reid rooted to the sidelines due to injury.
Given that the Hammers will get to see Dendoncker’s talents first hand as he will likely feature for Wolves against the London club when they face each other in the Premier League in the 2018/19 season then they will soon regret not signing him when they had a chance.
